All those dire circumstances had one source - local television news stations. February was s ratings month, when each station attempts to get viewers to watch their newscasts. The stories the news shows ran tended to be a bit juicier, offering a tad more tease than usual. Some reports resembled the best or worst of "Geraldo" or "A Current Affair," depending on your taste for trash TV.

It would be easy to dump on all of these stories and cite the substitution of glitz for substance, but even the most sensational were fun to watch.

Some personal peeves: WAVY, Channel 10's two-part series on computer pornography. It told of computer networks for the lovelorn. It also showed nude photographs with the naughty bits blacked out.

There was WVEC, Channel 13's, series on date rape. It included a dramatic re-enactment.

Re-enactments seemed to be the norm this month. They included drug users shooting up in a series WAVY did on the possibilty of legalizing drugs. And in WVEC's series on teens in cults, a scene from an old movie, "The Occult Experience," was used as a visual aid.

But there was plenty of substance this month, too. WVEC's Lee Sausley explained how modern shipbuilders would rebuild the 17th-century ship the Susan Constant in Jamestown. And several human-interest stories, including the wrestling takedown of a hopeful robber, were done by WVEC.

And WAVY didn't fall behind. The NBC affiliate showed more than 15 different special reports during the month, by far the most of the three stations. Many were probing. They included Margaret Douglas' balanced report on drug legalization. Alveta Ewell's study on what will face the aging U.S. population and Stephanie Taylor's look at opportunities and problems facing older adults.

It wasn't all computer sex and messy divorces in February. But most of those features were presented during the 11 p.m. newscasts. Both WAVY and WVEC would spend a minute at the end of the 6 p.m. news segment promoting what viewers would see at 11. It grew tiresome.

TAPE SPLICES

Fallout: Sanford Goldberg, regional vice president of WGH (97.3 FM and 1310 AM) has resigned from the station.

Goldberg headed WGH-FM in the fall of 1988 when disc jockey D.B. Cooper made disparaging remarks about WNVZ-FM (104.5) announcer M.J. Kelli. Among other things, Cooper made Jewish jokes about Kelli and branded him a homosexual. Last week, Kelli was awarded $310,000 in Virginia Beach Circuit Court for compensation caused by Cooper's slanderous remarks.

Radio sources have said that Goldberg resigned under pressure from the station's parent company, Susquehanna Broadcasting Co., which was unhappy that Goldberg allowd Cooper repeatedly to make his comments. Interim General Manager Wayne Olson didn't return two telephone calls to the station this week.

Either way, Goldberg made a hasty exit. He was gone by Wednesday.

Lottery winner: Urban radio statin WMYK-FM (93.7) has won its court fight against the government.

In July, the station sued the federal governnment and the Federal Communications Commission in the U.S. District Court of Virginia.

federal statute prohibited WMYK from either advertising the lottery or even talking about winning numbers on the air. The reason: WMYK is licensed to North Carolina. Although its studios are in Virginia Beach and most of its audience is in Hampton Roads, WMYK's tower is 100 yards from the Virginia border in North Carolina. A station that's licensed to a non-lottery state can't advertise a lottery in an adjacent state.

WMYK claimed that it was at an unfair advantage, said Co-owner Paul Lucci of Edge Broadcasting. Other Hampton Roads stations could pick up revenues from lottery ads and from advertisers such as 7-Eleven that like to mention the lottery in their commercials. WMYK was muffled.

"Over time, we'd lose millions of dollars in revenues," Lucci said. "We were in an unusual position."

The judge agreed this week. An exception to the statute will be made for WMYK.

Shuffling: In hopes of finding a duo that works in the morning, oldies station WLTY-FM (95.7) has made a change.

WLTY fired morning announcer Larry Lomax, who had come to the station from Seattle 14 months ago. Starting Monday, he'll be replaced by Bruce Garroway. Listeners of news and music station WTAR-AM (790) knew Garroway as a disc jockey there for the past six years. Both WLTY and WTAR are owned by Landmark Communications.

Garroway will team with Mary Beth Landis, who also reads the news at WLTY.

"The chemistry between Lomax and Landis just wasn't there," said WLTY Operations Manager Mark Thomas. "We're hoping that Bruce (Garroway) brings more fun to the mornings."

Thomas, in charge of daily operations at WTAR and WLTY, is leaving in mid-March. He said he felt worn down by the long hours and pressures of the job and decided to take a break from radio.

"You never leave the station, even when you go home at night," Thomas said. I just wanted to sit out for awhile."

Hiring: WAVY has hired a new weekend co-anchor to work with Les Smith, and she seems to be an experienced professional. Carolyn Anderson was the weekend co-anchor at KKTV in Colorado Springs, Colo. She also hosts a syndicated radio talk show, "Women Talk Business."

Anderson starts March 14. The station has been without a full-time partner for Smith since Barbara Ciara left for WVEC in December 1988. Current 5 p.m. news co-anchor LeAnne Rains originally was hired to work weekends. But then the station decided to launch "WAVY FIrst News" at 5 p.m. last September. Rains was asked to co-anchor that newscast with Terry Zahn.